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Steve Jobs and Marxism

Recently I posted the following quote from Henry Hazlitt on my facebook page:

The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence, or stupidity

I got some positive responses, but I also got some responses that criticized it for oversimplifying Marx's thought. I have to admit it was hard to defend Hazlitt's notion that all of Marx's thought could be summarized in one sentence. I can concede that point to the critics.

That said, I still believe in the sentiment behind the post, and agree the admonition to "hate the man who is better off than you are" is pretty consistent with Marx. This belief was bolstered recently by a post from Alex Epstein's blog I found. He interviewed some folks in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and their remarks about Steve Jobs illustrate well how Marx's labor theory of value can lead to hatred of those better off, even when the better off person produces nifty gadgets that you really love.